Hay rake



Aug. 18, 1953 Filed April 21, 1952 C. L. KELLY HAY RAKE 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTOR.

C/rar/es L. X eZZy BY Aug. 18, 1953 c. KELLY 2,648,946

HAY RAKE Filed April 21, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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ArroEAg-y Patented Aug. 18, 1953 UNITED STATE OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvement in hay rakes.

on farms and ranches, especially on dairy farms and cattle ranches it iscustomary to raise a large amount of hay and for this crop various kindsof machines are employed. It is customary to rake the hay into windrowsfor drying and curing.

Hay rakes of various kinds have been made and sold some of which havebeen designed moreparticularly for use with horses and others designedfor use with tractors.

It is the object of this invention to produce a hay rake of an improvedconstruction that shall be so designed that it can be manufactured at amoderate cost and be of a rugged construction.

Another object is to produce a hay rake formed from a plurality ofsubstantially identical sections that can be assembled on a shaft toproduce a rake of a width equal to the combined width of any number ofsections.

A still further object is to produce a rake having means for adjustingthe ground pressure of the rake tines and with means permitting the raketines to pass over obstructions such as rocks without injury.

The above and other objects that may appear as the description proceedsare attained by means of a construction and an arrangement of parts thatwill now be described in detail for which purpose reference will be hadto the accompanying drawings in which the invention has been illustratedand in which Figure 1 is a front elevational view showing the rake tinesin raking position.

Figure 2 is an end elevation looking in the direction of arrows 2-2 inFigure 1, parts being broken away to better disclose the construction.

Figure 3 is a view taken on line 33, Figure 1, parts being shown inelevation and other parts in section;

Figure 4 is a rear elevation of the upper end of a rake head section,looking in the direction of arrows 4-4 in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a view taken on line 55 Figure l and shows some of the partsin section and others in elevation, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the rake tine and pull rod assemblyshowing the same apart from the machine.

Referring now to the drawing, reference numeral l designates the axle onwhich the rake head assemblies are supported. Supporting wheels W areattached to the ends of the axle and mounted for rotation onanti-friction bearings.

The rake head section assemblies have been designated in their entiretyby reference letter H and are of identical size and construction. Eachrake head consists of a frame having two parallel vertical members 3that are connected at their upper ends by a tension bar 4 which issecured to them by bolts 1 which pass through elongated holes as shownin Figure 1. Bar 4 has two spaced openings through which the short bars5 extend. Attached to the lower ends of bars 5 is a flat bar 6 that isurged downwardly by coil springs as shown in Figures 3 and 4'.

Pins C or other equivalent means limit the downward movement of plate 6.Positioned below late 6 and spaced therefrom is a plate 8 whose ends areprovided with downwardly extending projections 8a which have slottedopenings through which clamping bolts 9 extend. Plate 3 may be adjustedvertically along frame members 3 in a manner which is obvious fromFigures 3 and 4. Associated with each rake head section is a tine rakeassembly that is attached to the rake head frame by means of a pivot'barIll. The tine rake assembly is shown most clearly in Figure 6 andconsists of a tubular sleeve ll through which pivot bar Ill extends asshown in Figure 1. Pull rods I2 are Welded or otherwise attached to theends of sleeve II. A tine group assembly comprising plate [3 and anumber of resilient lines 25 attached thereto by bolts I4 is attached tothe rear ends of pull rods I2. An inspection of Figures 2, 3 and l willshow that the pull bars pass between the plates 6 and 8 and arepermitted a limited amount of free movement. Bar 8 limits the downwardmovement of the rake teeth and the upward movement is resilientlylimited by plate 6.

The lower ends of rake head assembly frame members 3 have enlargedportions I00 and HH that are provided with openings through which axle iextends. It will be observed that parts ill! have laterally extendinghub-like portions that serve to space the frame assemblies. The severalrake head assemblies are. connected by a bar I02 which is preferably achannel baras shown in Figure 1 is secured to the front sides of framemembers 3 and another channel bar l 03 is secured to them nearer theirlower ends.

A draw bar frame comprising two rearwardly extending end members 2|connected by spaced parallel members 2Ia, extends forwardly from axle Ito which the rear ends of members 2| are connected by sleeves I04. Theaxle does not rotate in sleeve I04 which may, if desired, be splined tothe axle.

3 A fiat bar 24 is attached to the rear of frame members 3 as shown inFigure 5 to which reference will now be had.

Bracket W5 is attached to the draw bar frame and has two spaced upwardlyextending members between which the rake head stop bar [5 is positionedand to which it is attached by pivot ll. Bar I5 is positioned underneathbar 24 and has a notch H5 in which the bar 24 engages when the parts arepositioned as in Figure 5. A tension spring l8 attached to the front endof bar 15 serves to urge it into engagement with bar 24-. A bracket I05is attached to the draw bar frame and forms an anchor for the front endof spring 22 whose rear end is attached to the rake head frame section.Spring 23 has one end attached to the rake head section and the otherend to the draw bar frame as shown in Figures 3 and 5. Springs 22 and 23exert oppositely acting torque forces on the frames. A dump bar it ismounted on pivot 28 and has its lower end resting on bar l5 as shown inFigure 5. When bar id is rocked counter-clockwise from the positionshown in Figure 5 it moves bar l5 downwardly and engages bar 24whereupon further movement tilts all of the rake head frames to theposition shown in Figure 3 which movement raises the rake tines anddumps the hay. A dump rope R is attached to the upper end of dump leveris and when tension is released on this rope after the dumping operationthe weight of the rake assembly will return the rake head frames to thepcsiti-on shown in Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 2 and 3 which show the raketine assembly ground engaging or operative position and in dumpingposition respectively. When the rake is in dumping position the raketine assembly pull bars I2 rest on the upper surface of plate 8 whichlimits its downward movement. When the parts are returned to theoperative position shown in Fig.2 and before the rake is moved to gathera load of hay the parts are in the full line position. As the rake movesforwardly and gathers a load the increased pull rocks the rake headframe clockwise against the action of spring 22 thereby moving plate 8downwardly and at the same time plate 6 is urged against the top of barsl2 forcing the tines into engagement with the ground with increasedforce. The heavier the load is to pull the greater the downwardly urgingforce becomes.

From the above description taken in connection with the drawing it willbe seen that the machine to which this invention relates is a decideddeparture from present practice particularly in this that it is made upfrom a number of identical sections of simple but rugged constructionwhich are treaded onto the supporting shaft. The rake can be made in anywidths which are multiples of the widths of the sections. It ispractical to accept and fill orders for rakes of any size or widthbecause to fill such orders involves merely the selection of properlength axles. The rake tines are readily removable and when made fromproper spring steel will seldom break but if one does break it can bequickly replaced. The rake tines can be spaced so as to produce the bestresults. Although there appears to be no need of providing cleaning rodsthese may be provided as indicated by broken lines and designated bynumeral 26.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A hay rake comprising a wheel supported axle, a pull frame attachedto the axle, at least one rake head frame supported by the axle, saidrake head frame having two spaced vertical frame members supported attheir lower ends by the axle, a bar connecting the upper ends of saidmembers, the rake head frame being rockable about the axis of the axlewith respect to the pull frame, means comprising a notched leverpivotally connected with the pull frame and operatively associated withthe rake head frame, for latching it in a fixed rotarial positionrelative thereto, a pivot bar extending between the vertical framemembers, a rake tine assembly comprising a tubular bearing positionedover the pivot bar, a flat bar having a plurality of parallel tinesextending downwardly from one edge thereof, and pull rods connecting theends of the tubular bearing with the ends of the tine carrying bar,means comprising a plate adjustably at-- tached to said vertical headframe members underneath the pull rods, forming means for limiting therotation of the rake tine assembly in a downward direction relative tothe rake head frame means, comprising a plate resiliently connected withthe rake head frame and positioned above the pull rods for limiting therotary movement of the rake tine assembly in an upward direction, alatch release means com-prising a lever pivoted to the rake head framein operative engagement with the notched lever for releasing the same,and for rocking the rake head and the rake tine assembly to dumpingposition when a forwardly acting force is applied to the upper end ofthe latch release lever.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which there are a plurality ofrake head frames and rake tine assemblies positioned on the axle andinterconnected to rock on the axle as a unit.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the rake head frame isbiased to a predetermined rotary position relative to the pull frame byoppositely acting springs.

4. A rake assembly unit for use in forming rakes of variable widths,comprising, a rake head frame for use in an upwardly ranging position,having spaced parallel frame members provided at their lower ends withmeans for effecting a rockable connection with a rake axle and connectedat their upper ends by a bar, a pivot rod extending between the framemembers at a point below the bar, a tubular bearing encircling the pivotbar, a rake tine assembly, pull connecting the ends of the rake tineassembly with the ends of the tubular bearing whereby the rake tineassembly may move angularly with respect to the rake head frame andmeans for limiting said angular movement, comprising a flanged barsecured to the rake head frame below the pull bars and a resilientlymounted plate positioned above the pull bars.

CHARLES L. KELLY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

